They are urging the passage of a bill that would phase out state electric utility purchases of coal from mountaintop removal mines. North Carolina lawmakers led by Representative Pricey Harrison introduced a bill on Thursday called the Appalachian Mountains Preservation Act. Representative Harrison was the bill's lead sponsor in the house, and Senator Steve Goss introduced a companion bill in the state senate. As of 2009, mountaintop removal coal mining had permanently leveled more than 470 peaks from the Appalachian skyline, had buried or polluted more than 1,200 miles of headwater streams, and had altered more than 800 square miles of one of America's most diverse and valuable ecosystems. Senator Steve Goss says he is firmly convinced that mountaintop removal is a moral issue that begs our hearts and minds to do the right thing...and that when this bill becomes law in North Carolina, once again we will take our place as a leader in the south concerning environmental issues. Harrison pointed out that in 2002, North Carolina passed the clean smokestacks act and, earlier this year, and the state won a major legal victory over air pollution from the Tennessee Valley Authority.